Saturday, November 19, 2016

Air India, which posted its first annual operating profit in nearly a decade last fiscal year, slipped to a loss in the April-June quarter, as stiff competition in one of the world's fastest-growing aviation markets weighed on the carrier.

The company reported an operating loss of 2.46 billion rupees ($36 million) in the period, compared with a loss of 3.15 billion rupees in the year-ago period, India's junior aviation minister Jayant Sinha told the lower house of Parliament on Thursday.

Air India had earlier set a target of reporting an operating profit of 872.8 million rupees in the first quarter.

Once a market leader in the country, Air India has been struggling to compete with low-cost private carriers such as IndiGo that offer cut-throat fares. Still, air traffic is booming in India as rising incomes and the advent of no-frills airlines over the last decade have prompted more people to shun trains for long-distance travel.
18/11/16 Dhanya Ann Thoppil/Nikkei Asian Review